Wednesday, 13 April 2011

Hello, Dolly!

My birthday happens to fall very near to Christmas. Yep, it sucks. Through childhood and adolescence, I was compensated for the fact that I got a combined birthday/Christmas gift by virtue of the fact that this gift was either something I had specifically asked for or TOTALLY FREAKIN' AWESOME. For example, one memorable year I got a bike. Deprived I was not.

In the run-up to the Christmas before my landmark 16th birthday, a large, rectangular box appeared under the tree. (In our family the gifts were part of the decorations disguising the ugly bucket the tree stood in, okay? There was none of this 'gifts magically appearing on Christmas Eve' stuff.) Anyhoo, I was convinced that said box contained the CD player I was desperate for. Further proof, if any were needed, was the fact that when I went to shake it my horrified mother stopped me. Ohmigod, ohmigod! I was going to be able to play Ritual de lo Habitual in my room!

On Christmas morning I ripped into the box to find ... a doll. A large, porcelain doll adorned with blonde ringlets. She was wearing a green velvet dress with a matching hat. Bloomers were involved. I did my best to look delighted, but 15-going-on-16-year olds with Doc Marten 8-ups and dreams of shagging Perry Farrell are not the kind of girls who are stoked to receive dolls.

Happily, this disappointing (and quite creepy) gift did not poison me against all dolls. Behold!

Alas, it seems that there has been no activity on the IoLCC's site more recent than 2009, and nothing seems to be for sale. Noooooo! However ...

Time to be honest - I've selfishly been keeping this link to Lizjul's website to myself because I want, I want, I want but I cannot afford. Elizabeth is a belly dancer. She makes and sells dolls wearing belly dance outfits. Dolls like this:

Yasmeen by Elizabeth de Almeida

If you've got some money you don't want you should buy a doll from Elizabeth at once.

And finally, hello there to 'naamahwnc', Allyse and Manuela who are now following this blog [waves at you]. It's a pretty sure thing two of you found me thanks to RetroKali, who was a total sweetheart and pimped me out this blog recently on The Belly Whisperer. I promise I'll try to make that kind gesture worth her while, but it's unlikely I'll ever attain the heady heights of her hilarious and memorable "Who is gettin' the crotch?" post.